Boris Johnson said people should go out and celebrate New Year’s Eve despite a nationwide shortage of Covid tests and a record number of cases.
The prime minister, senior cabinet members and government advisers have all urged people to do lateral flow tests before meeting up to help limit the spread of the Omicron variant.
However, no tests were available for delivery on the government website for most of yesterday, while pharmacies said there was a “huge” supply problem. The government will attempt to deliver millions more tests to pharmacies over the next 48 hours.